You're very welcome. Thanks for sharing your insights @moeknows. I can see you capture the essence of my message. For the annual assessment, yes it needs to be comprehensive covering all aspects of the employee's performance, the good the ugly and the bad. I see this specific situation as a bit of special one. Here's how I do it with a team member reporting to me: I'd tell him all the good points about hims with not buts. I do that with proof and evidence to be genuine. Then I point out all deficiencies and nonperformance dimensions without sugar coating them. Just straight to the point with development action plan suggested. Then I would end on a positive note. This might seem like a sandwich but it actually isn't because each performance issue handled separately without mixing it with others. I see we're on the same wavelength.